1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a container for beverages, such as a syrup tank for use e.g. in a cup vending machine (cup vender) or a beverage dispenser.
2. Prior Art
A syrup tank used in a cup vender for automatically vending beverages, a beverage dispenser for dispensing beverages or the like is a container for holding a syrup (condensed liquid) of a beverage for sale. From a sanitary point of view, such a syrup tank is washed and replenished with a syrup in a factory, and connected to the cup vender or the beverage dispenser in situ. On the other hand, in the cup vender or the beverage dispenser, the syrup held in the syrup tank is supplied to a vending cup by pumping (as disclosed in Japanese Provisional Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 3-12949) or by pressure of gas, such as carbon dioxide (as shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B attached hereto). The syrup tank is connected to a feed hose and a gas hose provided in the cup vender or the beverage dispenser, when in use.
More specifically, the syrup tank has not only a container lid but also hose connection ports provided on the top surface thereof. The feed hose and the gas hose are connected to the hose connection ports. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 1, a syrup tank 61 has an upper protector 62 and a lower protector 63 mounted on respective upper and lower ends thereof. These protectors are provided for prevention of overturn of a body 64 and damage to the hose connection ports 65, 65, which can occur e.g. when the syrup tank is washed and refilled within a factory. Further, when the syrup tanks 61 are stored or transported, they are stacked one upon another. However, separate stacks of syrup tanks directly placed one upon.another are unstable, and therefore, the syrup tanks 61 are conventionally stacked with a pallet interposed therebetween.
Such conventional syrup tanks necessitate pallets when they are stacked, as described above, and hence the work of stacking is troublesome. Further, in setting an increased number of syrup tanks for use in order to increase the number of kinds of beverages for sale, or to improve exchanging efficiency of syrup tanks, an enlarged floor area is required, even if each of the syrup tanks may be small in capacity. Therefore, there is a limit in the number of syrup tanks that can be set for a cup vender or a beverage dispenser for which only a limited space is available. If the syrup tanks are arranged in a stack, this inconvenience can be overcome. However, stack of syrup tanks immediately placed one upon another is very unstable, and further, they should have hoses connected thereto when in use, although such connections are not required when they are stored or transported. Therefore, practically, it is impossible to use syrup tanks in a stack for the cup vender or the beverage dispenser.